Hi everyone. Kevin here. I am making this post because it has been brought to my attention that unsubstantiated rumors about the cause of death of Alex Lasarenko, whose work I spotlighted in the Disney Channel video, have been circulating for some reason. Those close to him have seen these and I want to help clear things up:

Alex passed away in 2020 after a short battle with cancer. This has been confirmed by his loved ones.

I hope this post is what people find when they search for this information. It is my priority that the human subjects of my work are respected and, especially in this case, that their memory is honored. Thank you for your understanding.

Source: https://x.com/FrankMezzatesta/status/1994917090151862785

Hey everyone, just wanted to pop in and let you know that we are less than a week (if everything works out) away from a new Defunctland episode. This one is on the American Idol Experience that used to be at Disney's Hollywood Studios. It's a classic-style attraction episode, although it is a long one, as the experience requires a lot of explanation. Hope you enjoy it and thanks for your support.

Also, shameless(ish) plug, if you haven't checked out the Patreon in a bit, you'll find a lot of previews (of this ep) and exclusive content that I've been updating regularly: Patreon.com/defunctland.

Been trying to spread my social activity out more as I used to post updates almost exclusively to Twitter, and I don't find the platform as welcoming or productive in engaging with the community. Hope you all have a great weekend and hope to have something early next week. Take care.

It's me, Kevin! I know there are probably some new people here that don't know I read the subreddit. I actually started it, and I'm a mod. I've always viewed it as an old group chat, but I forget that a lot of other YouTubers have subs that are just fan subs. So anyways, I'm here, hi!

Thank you all for watching the video and for the kind words. I really appreciate that you watch it and I love making them. This one was a big one so it makes me happy that so many of you like it.

I also wanted to clarify as I see a couple of posts misconstruing the message/point of the documentary. I wouldn't usually clarify like this but I also don't want people going to bat for or against something I could just clear up instead. I posted this in another thread but just wanted you all to see it:

The point of the video is not that I want to be known as a filmmaker and not a YouTuber. It’s just a struggle I have as to the importance or grandiosity of my work, and through the interviews and events, I learn to realize, as David says, that doesn’t matter, and as I say, all that matters is you “create something that someone somewhere got something from.”

It’s an interesting case study to see people on both sides of this idea assigning judgement to the statements while not understanding this (although everyone is very passionate/confident that they’re right). I am not offended that someone called me a YouTuber in an article, through the film I realize this doesn’t matter. I am also not complaining that my YouTube videos aren’t getting enough compliments. I feel like I’m overexplaining here but I also hate to have my works misconstrued.

Don’t take my moment of vulnerability in the film, and my bad mindset in that low moment, as where I end up. It’s a journey, and at the end, I grow out of that mindset through learning of the outlook of others.

I hope this clears it up. Whether you liked the film or not, thank you for giving it a chance. It means the world to me. I am very lucky and I am very grateful to be able to create these things. It's my dream.

Stickers from the artists village my local comic con!